


The Mole

by Lilly_C



Series: Inking It Out [67]
Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, Infiltration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-14 19:37:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11214864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilly_C/pseuds/Lilly_C
Summary: The first time Holmes and Moriarty met.





	The Mole

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Trobadora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trobadora/gifts).



> Thanks to Tamara and Vikkii for doing beta for me.

The man in the far corner of the room, with his back to the rest of the assembled gang had intrigued the leader since his initiation rite a few days ago. There was something inherently eccentric about someone who chose to wear a heavy set coat with a top hat and ill-fitting monocle in a heatwave rather than something more suitable for the current temperatures.

Placing a folded piece of paper into his pocket the man finally turned to face the leader with the rest of the cronies. He kept his head down while the orders were given to commit various criminal acts within a set time frame and the emphasis on not getting caught was met with a mutual murmur of “yes boss.”

Once the meeting was over, the men left the underground room to scatter London wide under the orders of their boss, Moriarty. He shouted, “you, in the hat, stay behind.”

Holmes footsteps faltered for a beat before he turned to face his new boss. “Me, sir?” he asked with heavily rehearsed Edinburgh accent, hoping that his rouse hadn’t been found out so soon into his latest attempt to catch Moriarty.

Moriarty approached Holmes taking in all of the finite details of the man’s outfit and demeanour. He looked at his face, finding something familiar about him that he couldn’t quite place. Dismissing his disquiet, he began to give Holmes details of a job that only he could do.

“What’s your name? I’d you like you do something for me,” Moriarty said.

“Mole, sir. What would that be?” Holmes asked, reaching into his pocket for a pencil and the piece of paper he was looking at during the meeting.

Moriarty took the items from Holmes, writing _Mansion House, watch for the William Lidderdale, note down all of the times he arrives and leaves._ “When you have this information, meet me here.”

Holmes skimmed the instructions, placing the paper in his pocket once more. “How long do I keep watch for sir?”

“Two to three days.”

With the final instruction Holmes left the room, heading up the concrete stairs to street level. He called a Hansom cab, heading home to change into something more suitable for espionage.

~

Moriarty picked up the early edition copy of The Illustrated London News grabbing each page until he found the headline that caught his attention when he first read it. **HOLMES TO CATCH MORIARTY!**

“Catch me will you Holmes,” he muttered to himself while reading the article, more amused by the detective’s infiltration of his gang than his terrible Scottish accent. 

Once he had the information he needed to pull off what would be a world renowned masterpiece of criminality, Moriarty knew that he could brag about he tricked the great Sherlock Holmes to do his bidding for him.

~

It had been three long days of observing the comings and goings of all of the staff at the Bank of England, by four o’clock Holmes had been standing on the steps outside Mansion House noting down all of the times the governor of the bank of England had left and returned, as per the instructions he had received.

He realised that the most significant of these times was midday to two o’clock as there was a skeleton staff working during these times, likely to be when Moriarty would chose to strike, if was even planning to do anything here. 

Holmes couldn’t help but wonder if his plan had already been discovered.

A gentle tap on his shoulder caused Holmes to stiffen and flinch a little. He calmly turned his face to see Moriarty on the step above him. “What have you?”

“Not a lot but it is useful.”

Moriarty couldn’t help the light chuckle that escaped at the other man’s words. “Do you have the times?”

“Yes.” Holmes showed him the page. “The man you are after arrives at seven o’clock, leaves at five o’clock everyday but what is interesting is that he leaves at midday and returns at two o’clock, during that time there is only a small number of staff in the building.”

Knowing that his plan was falling into place, Moriarty inquired, “would you like to do this job?”

Holmes put his guard up while considering the offer. “You need someone with experience of large scale robberies to pull this one off.”

disappointed by his answer, Moriarty countered, “we can do this one together.”

Holmes nodded his acceptance of the counter offer, while covertly signalling Inspector Lestrade of the impending robbery.

~

Once the watchman had completed his sweep of the upper floor, Holmes and Moriarty emerged from the hiding places slowly walking towards the door to put the plan into action.

“The majority of cash will be kept downstairs in a safe, there may be some left by the tellers windows,” Moriarty whispered.

“Understood,” Holmes replied before making his way downstairs behind the criminal mastermind, scoping out the building as they went about their business.

As soon as they made it to the tellers windows, Moriarty pointed to a door within the staff area that had been left ajar, although he felt uneasy at this discrepancy he went through to steal the contents of the safe. Holmes stayed by the counters signalling to the watchman that he could come closer to catch the crook.

Returning from the safe room, Moriarty said, “Let’s go Mole!” not realising that Holmes had already left the building. He made his way to front door, only to be confronted by Inspector Lestrade and Sherlock Holmes. 

Holmes shook his head at what he considered to be Moriarty’s naivety, one for trusting a displaced scot and one for trying to rob a bank during the day.

“You set this up.” Moriarty stated. “I assume that you told all of the bank’s staff of my plan and informed the inspector.”

“That I did,” Holmes acknowledged. “Once I knew what you were going to do, I was able to formulate my own plan to catch you in the act.”

Two constables led a red faced Moriarty away from the scene of his failed crime.


End file.
